How does Toni Morrison in Beloved and Bram Stoker in Dracula explore the role of the body?
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Course
Unit 2 - Prose
Institution
PEARSON (PEARSON)
Book
Beloved
A comparison of the role of the body as detailed in Beloved by Toni Morrison and Dracula by Bram Stoker as written for Year 1 English Literature A Level (AS).
Critical analysis essay over Beloved by Toni Morrison
Critical analysis essay over Beloved by Toni Morrison
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Written for
A/AS Level
PEARSON (PEARSON)
English Literature 2015
Unit 2 - Prose
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How does Toni Morrison in Beloved and Bram Stoker in Dracula explore the role of the
body? You must refer to relevant contextual factors
Both authors use the body as a mechanism to drive the plot of their respective novels as well as
shaping the characters and their dynamics. The use of supernatural beings in both novels is of
particular interest since it challenges the idea of what it means to have a body and the extent to
which it affects the surrounding ‘mortal’ characters. Bram Stoker chooses to stick to the rules of
being supernatural in Dracula whereas Toni Morrison distorts her supernatural character in Beloved.
One role of the body which is evident throughout both novels is the role of providing sustenance to
others. Throughout Dracula, Stoker details how the initially inexplainable illness of Lucy Westenra is
a result of Dracula feeding off her in order to thrive and continue his rampage. Despite giving
Dracula mortal power, we see that the biting of the neck of Lucy can be seen as sexual, thus Dracula
also holds some sexual power over Lucy and her body. Lucy thus relies on blood transfusions from
her suitors in an attempt to recover, a further display by Stoker of how our bodies are used as a tool
of sustenance for others. Major scientific advancements were beginning to take place in the
Victorian era, thus the medical practices which Stoker documents in Dracula are a reflection of the
power which doctors were beginning to take over their patients. Given that doctors need bodies to
operate on in order to work, this further demonstrates the role of the body as a provider of
sustenance to others. Toni Morrison adopts a similar idea in Beloved but uses it to target other areas
of societal concern. The character Beloved is supernatural and feeds off her mother Sethe, slowly
wearing her out over time through her childlike desires and greed. Denver takes in Beloved’s blood
whilst being breastfed by Sethe, a further example of Sethe’s body being used for sustenance. One
interpretation of the novel offers the character of Beloved as representing the past of slavery, Sethe
as the post-colonial society in America and Denver as the future of Black America. Adhering to this
interpretation, we see that the strength of Sethe and her body is vital in order to deliver the future
of Black America as further represented by the description of Sethe’s pregnancy with Denver, during
which her body suffered a tremendous physical ordeal in order to protect and birth Denver. Hence,
we see that both authors use the body to provide sustenance to others, but Stoker targets Victorian
views on medicine and sexuality with Dracula whereas Morrison addresses the nature and survival
of Black America with Beloved.
Another role of the body explored by both authors is the idea that the body is used a form of
communication, both verbal and non-verbal. Morrison depicts how some slaves were branded on
their body, and the physical scars which they inherited from their time in slavery (e.g. the
chokecherry tree on Sethe’s back) serves as a constant communication to oneself and others about
the horrifying ordeal which slaves had to go through. A further example explored by Morrison is the
silencing of slaves in the chain-gang, which Paul D was physically silenced but managed to escape
with other slaves using non-verbal communication. Morrison uses this to make a wider comment on
how Black America was silenced and had to find ways to communicate in order to survive. In the
1980s, Morrisons style of writing demonstrated her as a ‘black author’ despite living in a
predominantly white society, thus demonstrating how the history of Black America cannot be
silenced and will be told either through verbal or non-verbal communication. Stoker employs the
idea of the body serving as a tool of communication in Dracula by using the foreignness and accent
of Dracula to outcast the ‘foreigners’ and express the fear of ‘otherness’ experienced in Victorian
society. This rejection of foreign ideas throughout Dracula drives the plot as the behaviour of
Dracula becomes increasingly more menacing. Dracula forces Jonathan Harker to write letters under
his instruction and makes Harker’s personal letters go missing. This echoes the silencing seen in
Beloved whereby the truth (as wished to be told) by Harker is not revealed to Mina until much later
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